--- a/ruby/vendor/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_config.rb
+++ b/ruby/vendor/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_config.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ class GitlabConfig
   attr_reader :config
 
   def initialize
-    @config = YAML.load_file(File.join(ROOT_PATH, 'config.yml'))
+    @config = YAML.load_file(ENV.fetch('GITLAB_SHELL_CONFIG', '/etc/gitlab/gitlab-shell.yml'))
   end
 
   def home